Vong’s Thai Kitchen
Fusion Thai Cuisine $$-$$$
Touting house-made curries, seafood pad thai’s, and infamously intoxicating cocktails, this is American-Thai made fancy restaurant has the price-tag to prove it! Our experience at VTK was a good one overall with great service, powerful (i.e. salty) flavors, and a pretty unique menu. Check it out for yourself!
We started off with some cocktails, which is uncommon for me because I’m weak-sauce and can ONLY do sugary cocktails that mask the flavor of the alcohol. Unfortunately, I ordered a ridiculously alcoholic cocktail that looked gorgeous and sounded yummy but just wasn’t palatable to me.
LYCHEE BOMB $8.25
LYCHEE BERRIES, PEAR INFUSED SAKE, THAI HERBS & SPICE
Flavor: Honestly, all you could taste were the herbs, spiciness, and alcohol – without the pear infusion. To be fair, this wasn’t like sipping on hard liquor, but this cocktail isn’t for the faint of heart. I ended up fishing out the “lychee berries” (i.e. canned lychee) and couldn’t take the combination of spiciness and burn of the sake after half a glass.
10 MANGOES $9.50
10 CANE RUM, MANGO PUREE, FRESH LIME, VANILLA
Flavor: You can definitely see some pulp pieces from the mango floating in the drink. It was refreshing, just sweet enough, and yes, quite alcoholic. However, the blend of flavors makes this a great tropical drink and the flavors are more complex than plain mango. MUCH better than the lychee bomb!
Daikon Radish Salad with Sesame Oil (Complimentary)
Flavor: Refreshing and crunchy, this is a lovely start of the meal but a tad on the greasy side.
CRUSTED SHRIMP SATAY $7.95
SWEET ‘N’ SOUR SAUCE
Flavor: The shrimp itself was crispy and the breading was light and flaky, kinda like panko-crusted breadcrumbs. The insides of the skewers were uniquely seasoned – you could definitely taste a hint of lemongrass which made the dish stand out. The biggest problem of this dish was how salty it was and for me, the film of lip grease after each bite.
TUNA SASHIMI ROLL $9.95
SASHIMI GRADE AHI TUNA, TAMAGO, SOYBEAN WRAPPER, SWEET WASABI SOY SAUCE
Flavor: The tuna was thick, fresh, and flavorful, while the Japanese tamago egg was slightly sweet and very fluffy and soft. The roll itself is really unique and was light and refreshing. Dipped in the soy sauce, there was the perfect amount of saltiness and sweetness from the ingredients. My only issue is that there were too few rolls!
TAMARIND GLAZED TILAPIA $17.95
BABY BOK CHOY, SNOW PEA, BELL PEPPER, SHIITAKE MUSHROOM, JASMINE RICE
Flavor: Unfortunately, we had this dish sent back because the thick coat of tamarind glaze, (which I have never had before) was SO tart that I couldn’t imagine eating more than two bites. The boyfriend agreed with how strong and pungent the flavor was and I sheepishly asked to switch for another dish. So much for being adventurous!!!
MISO-GLAZED SALMON $18.95
SHIITAKE MUSHROOM, CHINESE BROCCOLI, BLACK & WHITE RICE
Flavor: The fish was rich and well-coated with the sweet but slightly-too-salty miso glaze, so the rice was a necessary complement to the fish. The fish was slighly underdone as the center was still chewy and bright orange rather than flaky. The bed of vegetables were well-seasoned, but slightly too gingery while the mushrooms had an unexpectedly strong butter flavor. Overall a tasty dish but a little too salty and little raw.
VTK’S SIGNATURE SHRIMP AND CRAB PAD THAI $17.95
Peppers, Bean Sprouts, Peanuts, Eggs, Shallots, Scallions, Thai Basil, Garlic, Cilantro & Rice Noodles
Flavor: Both of us loved the dish. The generous amounts of shredded crabmeat, bits of sweet and savory shrimp were the perfect compliments to the slightly tangy flavor of the Pad Thai. The peanuts were finely diced and gave the dish a textural crunch and a change in flavor. The sauce was light, tangy and savory (you could definitely taste the fish sauce) and the noodles were well cooked not overly greasy (score!). Overall a really enjoyable dish that we’d order again. J
WARM PASSION FRUIT SOUFFLE $8.95
PASSION FRUIT ICE CREAM
Flavor: DANGGGG…YUM!!!!!!!!!!!! The soufflé was both tart and sweet, but was exactly what we were looking for after the heavier entrees. The top of the soufflé was crispy and easily cracked, while the inside was perfectly cooked so it was slightly raw, mushy, and liquid-like. With the ice-cream in the middle, the pairing was a great contrast of hot and cold, sweet and sour. A wonderful and unique end to our meal! I’d come back here just for another dessert.
***
RATINGS:
Taste: 4 (Great fresh ingredients with solid spices and flavoring…just way overdone on quite a few dishes)
Plating: 4
Originality: 4 (Where else can you find passion fruit souffle’s and a tuna wrapped with tamago??)
Value: 3 (The seafood dishes were definitely on the pricy-side, and the ambiance at the restaurant definitely didn’t justify for the price paid. However, this IS also downtown Chicago)
Service: 5 (Even with the dish exchange, our waiter was extremely kind and offered multiple solutions to make sure our dining experience was A-ok!)
***
FARMED or FRESH??
Gourmet Says...
Since this is a meal full of sea creatures, here is Gourmet Magazine’s guide to buying and eating Seafood the Sustainable and HEALTHY way!
American catfish, trout, and tilapia: Farmed is an excellent choice for these species. Tilapia—which have come out of nowhere to become one of the five most-consumed fish in the country recently—are vegetarians, so they don’t require a diet of “feeder” fish the way carnivores do and are therefore a very sustainable choice. To avoid chemical contamination, choose fish farmed in the United States and steer away from ones raised in China.
Crabs: Recently the population of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay has plummeted. BUT Oregon and Washington Dungeness crabs are GREAT choices!
Lobster: Maine lobsters are a good choice! Also, if you see the MSC label, you know it’s sustainable.
Salmon: Avoid farmed varieties—even the “organic” kind, since that label, when applied to farmed salmon doesn’t mean anything. (There are no USDA standards for seafood to date.) Go for wild Alaskan salmon instead.
Scallops: Farmed is the best. Wild scallops are traditionally harvested by dredging the sea floor, which causes environmental damage, so “they are best avoided! And you should buy scallops labeled ‘dry’—otherwise they’ve been treated with sodium tripolyphosphate. The industry claims that it’s a preservative, but the real reason it’s used is that it causes the meaty tissue to absorb up to 50 percent of its weight in water. It’s the biggest case of consumer fraud in the seafood industry.”
ugggh i hate when restaurants go TOO salty with everything. i am sooo sensitive to salt, so it makes going out not nearly as fun!!
awesome review!
thanks for the seafood buying and eating guide! i’m always way lost when it comes to fish because i only just discovered i like it!
mmm, makes me wish I lived in chicago! That tuna roll looks exquisite
I’ve never seen anything like that tuna sashimi roll. Looks awesome!
Thanks for the info on seafood. I’m always confused about this topic. Sounds like farmed salmon is a no-go.
I can’t handle the price of cocktails these days!! I know that makes me sound like an old lady but seriously?! Ten bucks?! Ah!
The entrees DO look fabulous…I can’t decide between the tilapia or the salmon! Whichever one though, RICE is definitely necessary! 😉
ohh what a great meal! my favorite is the tamago + tuna, i always want to order tamago, but then i get all cheap about paying $$ for some egg + rice. egg + tuna is perfect! mmm and shrimp and CRAB pad thai? that sounds so yummy!
Yum, that looks like my kind of restaurant. Every drink/plate looked deliciuos except for the first one. YUM.
Yum, everything looks so good. Pricey but good! The Miso glazed salmon looks so good!
Whoa nice tips! I try to stay away from farmed but sometimes it’s dang hard to find wild. The hardest for me to find is wild shrimp, even whole foods sells farmed!
all these foods look scrumptious!!! 🙂 Will you take me to there when I visit Chicago?
and good info about seafood, all my favorites!
I love that you included the seafood buying guide! I carry around a little paper card in my wallet that tells me what’s good to buy (sustainable) versus not good.
Love yo blog ladez!
wow that meal looks amazing!
thanks so much for yoru sweet comment 🙂 it means a lot!!
that tuna looks freakin AMAZING!!!!!! soo good!
thanks for the fish info! farmed salmon is just icky!!! xoxox
This place sounds awesome! I do love me some Thai food…
hmm when do i move to chicago..all your reviews are tempting me!! Totally agree on the farmed salmon, blech! I ordered a lychee martini in hawaii and pronounced it totally wrong, but it was soo good!!
That food looks good. Nice review. The crabs on the Chesapeake Bay are making a comeback. They’ll be back to full strength soon.
Wow your meal looks amazing! I am in loveee with lychees!! That tuna roll and dessert looks like heaven too! Thanks for the fish information. I had tilapia last night so it made me feel good!
Oh wow, too bad those shrimp satay were salty, but they ahhhh…. LOOK SOOOO GOOOD. I WANT SOME.
Holy mangoes, Taste Buds! That drink looks awesome. I’m sure that I would have adored those tuna rolls and the pad thai too. Yum! I always love your reviews, and this one was excellent as usual. It made me hungry. 🙂
high five for trying ethnic foods! hit or miss, it’s rather fun to try new things!
thanks so much for the info on the fish buying guide. I def am very ignorant in such things!
mmm i love thaiii<3 i just had an interview at a thai restaurant!!
hmm glad you wrote about the fish buying..def food to know!
LOVE thai food! We have one right by our house and it’s addicting!
Ten dollas for that mango cocktail?? Whata rip off! But it does look delicious..but you can buy a whole bottle for $15 and get drunk! You can’t get buzzed off of a mango thang! 😉
I’m going to University of Vermont! So it is kinda close to Chicago! I would love love love to meet up and eat sushi together! Let’s do it shawty!
I used to order from the Evanston Joy Yee’s in college! 🙂
I went there for my anniversary a few months ago and I loved it!
The architecture firm I work for designs all the Lettuce Entertain You restaurants, so I got to use a gift card from Christmas. But, I would definitely go back again.
Hmmm, I LOVE seafood so thanks for the great tips!!
Since I don’t eat fish…I’m just going to comment on the drinks! 😉
That mango one must have been delicious (even if it was strong) !
thai food is amazing!!
sounds like it was a really nice place too! the food looks great
The food looks really good, which is should be for the high price! Too bad it was overly salty! Hate that!
Thanks for the seafood farmed vs. fresh talk! I have been a bit confused about it.
❤ jess
xoxo
ove thai foods. especially Pho. This dish’s like Pho in Vietnam. And it’s delicious too. Try it and I bet you will love it. found a new way to cook a delicious meal in 20 mins on internet. Stir Fried Noodle. Low calories, sodium, and carbohydrate. And it’s Vegan too. Here’s the link for the recipe:http://allrecipes.com/PersonalRecipe/62360589/Vietnamese-Stir-Fry-Noodles-for-2/Detail.aspx And especially, all the ingredients are in the store next door. Or you can get them online. Here’s the link to find the first Vietnamese Brown Rice Noodle. Find them in other Northern California stores and online at amazon.com – http://staranisefoods.com/find-us.aspx Taste like being in Vietnam ❤ ❤ Love it!
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